Its hard to believe, but the seminal classic Prince album "Dirty Mind" is coming up to its 30th Birthday in 2 months. Its hard to believe this classic was released 30!!! years ago. It still sounds as raw and cutting edge now as it did back then. Seriously this one of the greatest sex records of all time. Prince sings about sex in nearly every single song.

Dirty Mind isabout opportunistic sex, Do it all night long, is about pulling an all nighter, Head about Fellatio, Sister about incest and the other 4 tracks all mention it.

Truly the album is a classic, gender bending rock and funk, Warners were expecting a cutesy soul follow up to a pop million seller like Prince, and what they got was some guy in his sisters clothing singing about sex in as many places and permutations as possible, what they also got was an underground cult classic that made the whole rock and roll world sit up and take notice. The record turned him from another R and B chart wonder into a true bona fide pop artist.

The music was brilliant and backed up with an increasingly daring, confident live show that oozed star power. Dirty Mind is one of my favourite albums and I am just wondering if you all can add your praise about this amazing record.

Tracks

Dirty Mind, When you were mine, Do it all night, Gotta broken heart again, Uptown, Head, Sister, Partyup

All songs composed by Prince. Produced by Jamie Starr in Uptown.

Released: October 8th 1980,

Band at time

Prince, Vocals Guitar, Composer and Arranger

Dez Dickerson, Lead guitar and backing vocals

Andre Cymone, Bass Guitar and backing vocals

Matt Fink, Keyboards

Lisa Coleman, Keyboards and backing vocals

Bobby Z, Drums

Gayle Chapman (Keyboards and backing vocals) left August 1980

[Edited 8/3/10 4:17am]

Huggiebear said:

Its hard to believe, but the seminal classic Prince album "Dirty Mind" is coming up to its 30th Birthday in 2 months. Its hard to believe this classic was released 30!!! years ago. It still sounds as raw and cutting edge now as it did back then. Seriously this one of the greatest sex records of all time. Prince sings about sex in nearly every single song.

Dirty Mind isabout opportunistic sex, Do it all night long, is about pulling an all nighter, Head about Fellatio, Sister about incest and the other 4 tracks all mention it.

Truly the album is a classic, gender bending rock and funk, Warners were expecting a cutesy soul follow up to a pop million seller like Prince, and what they got was some guy in his sisters clothing singing about sex in as many places and permutations as possible, what they also got was an underground cult classic that made the whole rock and roll world sit up and take notice. The record turned him from another R and B chart wonder into a true bona fide pop artist.

The music was brilliant and backed up with an increasingly daring, confident live show that oozed star power. Dirty Mind is one of my favourite albums and I am just wondering if you all can add your praise about this amazing record.

Tracks

Dirty Mind, When you were mine, Do it all night, Gotta broken heart again, Uptown, Head, Sister, Partyup

All songs composed by Prince. Produced by Jamie Starr in Uptown.

Released: October 8th 1980,

Band at time

Prince, Vocals Guitar, Composer and Arranger

Dez Dickerson, Lead guitar and backing vocals

Andre Cymone, Bass Guitar and backing vocals

Matt Fink, Keyboards

Lisa Coleman, Keyboards and backing vocals

Bobby Z, Drums

Gayle Chapman (Keyboards and backing vocals) left August 1980

[Edited 8/3/10 4:17am]

I have 3 Prince albums that I can put on at any time, enjoy and not jump tracks. This is one of them. A truly remarkable album and one of his very best.

I don't revisit DM nearly often enough. In fact it's going on right now.

"Seminal"

HEAD is the best thing about this album, total stand out track

still fresh, still now, still happenin, still bad

love it

robinhood said:

HEAD is the best thing about this album, total stand out track

still fresh, still now, still happenin, still bad

love it

For me it's 'When You Were Mine'. That's his first perfect pop song, as far as I'm concerned. And it's the only song of his that my other half likes & sings along to in the car if it comes on

Here's a review I found in EGG (free magazine) JULY issue

Transforming himself from the cute, Stevie Wonder -esque artist of his first 2 albums, Prince emerged as an edgy new wave funk pioneer with Dirty Mind. Openley embaracing sexuality, incest and oral sex. the then 22 year old described the writing of the album as A revelation...I realised I could write just what was on my mind and i didn't have to hide anything. Recording the Dirty Mind demos in his makeshift home studio, Prince was overwhelmed with what he managed to capture. Fearing that the album would lose its raw, spontaneous feel, the multi instrumentalist decided not to record in a proper studio, and with miminal re-mixing, what you hear on Dirty Mind is actually what Prince reccorded- alone in the basement of his small, rented apartment.

Standout track Uptown

erik319 said:

robinhood said:

HEAD is the best thing about this album, total stand out track

still fresh, still now, still happenin, still bad

love it

For me it's 'When You Were Mine'. That's his first perfect pop song, as far as I'm concerned. And it's the only song of his that my other half likes & sings along to in the car if it comes on

isnt it great how certain music can have such a different appeal for different people?

i think its fantastic that i can spotlight HEAD but for you it's 'when you were mine'

and both for different reasons.

i love HEAD cuz of the funk, clarity and solidity of it

but i can totally appreciate a good pop song too

cheers

purplecorvette1 said:

"Fearing that the album would lose its raw, spontaneous feel, the multi instrumentalist decided not to record in a proper studio, and with miminal re-mixing, what you hear on Dirty Mind is actually what Prince reccorded- alone in the basement of his small, rented apartment."

awesome and now he uses protools in a massive recording studio compound

robinhood said:

erik319 said:

For me it's 'When You Were Mine'. That's his first perfect pop song, as far as I'm concerned. And it's the only song of his that my other half likes & sings along to in the car if it comes on

isnt it great how certain music can have such a different appeal for different people?

i think its fantastic that i can spotlight HEAD but for you it's 'when you were mine'

and both for different reasons.

i love HEAD cuz of the funk, clarity and solidity of it

but i can totally appreciate a good pop song too

cheers

Completely agree with you though. Head is a fantastic song. Every track on there is so solid. And I include 'sister' in that statement. Fantastic album.

erik319 said:

robinhood said:

isnt it great how certain music can have such a different appeal for different people?

i think its fantastic that i can spotlight HEAD but for you it's 'when you were mine'

and both for different reasons.

i love HEAD cuz of the funk, clarity and solidity of it

but i can totally appreciate a good pop song too

cheers

Completely agree with you though. Head is a fantastic song. Every track on there is so solid. And I include 'sister' in that statement. Fantastic album.

sure and for me saying i love head

sometimes my foot is where my mouth's supposed to be

oh damn. that doesnt sound right either :thud:

I like Dirty Mind, but i prefer Prince.

30 years, man, time flies!!

hell, 30 years, thar's serious eh? I mean, there were less years between the two world wars, eh?. Prince IS a veteran artist...

DM is a CLASSIC, his third or fourth best album of his career, that's for sure.

Only 30 minutes of music. Prince started his career ripping his fans off.

rwn said:

Only 30 minutes of music. Prince started his career ripping his fans off.

Quality over quantity. I'd rather have those perfect 30 minutes than his 3 hour emancipation snooze-fest.

grrr.. i love this album

you dont even know .....

uptown .....just pure fun

head..... i love the 'now morning noon and night i give you head' part !

gotta broken heart again .......lawd

dirty mind .....

[Edited 8/3/10 9:28am]

Dirty Mind is Prince's definitive album.

Not his best (even as a classic), but his definitive album.

It defined his persona and his sound and set the stage for the balance of his career.

This was when albums traditionally only had 8 or 9 songs, anything more was considered a "double album". This came out BEFORE the age of the CD obviously so it was normal to see an album only around for like 30 minutes.

This is an album to love. Everything about it was fresh. Prince brought issues that were already discussed before and gave them a fresh ointment of rediscovery. Sex never sounded so funky. And his protest song "Party Up" is probably one of the funkiest protest songs I ever heard.

Perfect album.

"You gonna have to fight your own damn war 'cause we don't wanna fight no more!"

Huggiebear said:

Its hard to believe, but the seminal classic Prince album "Dirty Mind" is coming up to its 30th Birthday in 2 months. Its hard to believe this classic was released 30!!! years ago. It still sounds as raw and cutting edge now as it did back then. Seriously this one of the greatest sex records of all time. Prince sings about sex in nearly every single song.

Dirty Mind isabout opportunistic sex, Do it all night long, is about pulling an all nighter, Head about Fellatio, Sister about incest and the other 4 tracks all mention it.

Truly the album is a classic, gender bending rock and funk, Warners were expecting a cutesy soul follow up to a pop million seller like Prince, and what they got was some guy in his sisters clothing singing about sex in as many places and permutations as possible, what they also got was an underground cult classic that made the whole rock and roll world sit up and take notice. The record turned him from another R and B chart wonder into a true bona fide pop artist.

The music was brilliant and backed up with an increasingly daring, confident live show that oozed star power. Dirty Mind is one of my favourite albums and I am just wondering if you all can add your praise about this amazing record.

Tracks

Dirty Mind, When you were mine, Do it all night, Gotta broken heart again, Uptown, Head, Sister, Partyup

All songs composed by Prince. Produced by Jamie Starr in Uptown.

Released: October 8th 1980,

Band at time

Prince, Vocals Guitar, Composer and Arranger

Dez Dickerson, Lead guitar and backing vocals

Andre Cymone, Bass Guitar and backing vocals

Matt Fink, Keyboards

Lisa Coleman, Keyboards and backing vocals

Bobby Z, Drums

Gayle Chapman (Keyboards and backing vocals) left August 1980

[Edited 8/3/10 4:17am]

Lets see!

Cuss words, oral sex, incest reference,,,,,I'm surprised you like this album

Oh yeah, and Oct the 8th is my B-Day

erik319 said:

robinhood said:

HEAD is the best thing about this album, total stand out track

still fresh, still now, still happenin, still bad

love it

For me it's 'When You Were Mine'. That's his first perfect pop song, as far as I'm concerned. And it's the only song of his that my other half likes & sings along to in the car if it comes on

When You Were Mine is, to this day, my absolute favorite Prince song.

Harlepolis said:

Huggiebear said:

Its hard to believe, but the seminal classic Prince album "Dirty Mind" is coming up to its 30th Birthday in 2 months. Its hard to believe this classic was released 30!!! years ago. It still sounds as raw and cutting edge now as it did back then. Seriously this one of the greatest sex records of all time. Prince sings about sex in nearly every single song.

Dirty Mind isabout opportunistic sex, Do it all night long, is about pulling an all nighter, Head about Fellatio, Sister about incest and the other 4 tracks all mention it.

Truly the album is a classic, gender bending rock and funk, Warners were expecting a cutesy soul follow up to a pop million seller like Prince, and what they got was some guy in his sisters clothing singing about sex in as many places and permutations as possible, what they also got was an underground cult classic that made the whole rock and roll world sit up and take notice. The record turned him from another R and B chart wonder into a true bona fide pop artist.

The music was brilliant and backed up with an increasingly daring, confident live show that oozed star power. Dirty Mind is one of my favourite albums and I am just wondering if you all can add your praise about this amazing record.

Tracks

Dirty Mind, When you were mine, Do it all night, Gotta broken heart again, Uptown, Head, Sister, Partyup

All songs composed by Prince. Produced by Jamie Starr in Uptown.

Released: October 8th 1980,

Band at time

Prince, Vocals Guitar, Composer and Arranger

Dez Dickerson, Lead guitar and backing vocals

Andre Cymone, Bass Guitar and backing vocals

Matt Fink, Keyboards

Lisa Coleman, Keyboards and backing vocals

Bobby Z, Drums

Gayle Chapman (Keyboards and backing vocals) left August 1980

[Edited 8/3/10 4:17am]

Lets see!

Cuss words, oral sex, incest reference,,,,,I'm surprised you like this album

Oh yeah, and Oct the 8th is my B-Day

Jotting down Oct. 8 in my calendar.

Harlepolis said:

Lets see!

Cuss words, oral sex, incest reference,,,,,I'm surprised you like this album

Oh yeah, and Oct the 8th is my B-Day

So am I but I do. Its brilliantly composed music and classic songwriting. Here all the filth sounds great and in context unlike shit hop.

Timmy84 said:

This was when albums traditionally only had 8 or 9 songs, anything more was considered a "double album". This came out BEFORE the age of the CD obviously so it was normal to see an album only around for like 30 minutes.

This is an album to love. Everything about it was fresh. Prince brought issues that were already discussed before and gave them a fresh ointment of rediscovery. Sex never sounded so funky. And his protest song "Party Up" is probably one of the funkiest protest songs I ever heard.

Perfect album.

"You gonna have to fight your own damn war 'cause we don't wanna fight no more!"

I couldn't agree more. Great post!

Timmy84 said:

This was when albums traditionally only had 8 or 9 songs, anything more was considered a "double album". This came out BEFORE the age of the CD obviously so it was normal to see an album only around for like 30 minutes.

and that's why back then, the "filler" songs were almost nowhere to be found just a strong album with 8-9 strong tracks, gotta love the 60s, 70s and early 80s for that...

Love this album, very strong, and the songs aren't too long, like some of the songs on 1999...

This albums so edgy and hot. Uptown is just pure fun. I love the title track.

"It's you I really wanna drive!" My favorite line of the whole album.

hard, funky, tight. no wasted space.

Dirty Mind: The Creation

Yes its 30 minutes only, but not a wasted second. It was so daring, no one else would dare risk release an album like this at the time, except extreme shock punk rockers, less likely to a 22 year old kid who had only had two rather fluffy R and B albums beforehand. It caused a revolution in music, people took notice and realised they could have their very own dirty mind.

The songs themselves were shorn of the studio magic and gimmickry, it seems most of them had been cut in a home studio probably in summer 1980, on a 16 or even 8 track machine, no studios, redubbing, executive producers, just Prince and Matt Fink and some instruments. It was true DIY music. According to Per Nilsens DMSR, the studio was in a basement in a house next to a lake and the tape machine just held together, the drum kit was underwater and the recording process was plagued with electrical and mechanical problems giving the music a more raw feel.

The music relied heavily on punk riffs and synthesisers with Prince using his falsetto throughout. Many songs did not make the final album, but Gotta Stop Messin About (About a footloose girl) saw life as a B side and on the 1993 greatest hits package of the same name. Its easy to see why it didn't make the album, compared to Uptown and Partyup, it was fluff, with a stop start organ and shrieky vocals. Other songs called Lisa, Big Brass Bed (At least the title gave Prince an idea for a well used stage prop) and I don't wanna stop also missed the cut, the last at least was given to a long forgotten singer called Ren Woods. Most bizarre of the songs was Bulgaria, apparently about the Georgy Markov umbrella assassination rather than sex. Another song called Too Rough was passed around proteges and band members until it was left to rot in the vault. Apparently the lyrics were very obscene. Another recording was "American Jam" which may have been a precursor of the Madhouse style work also remains in the vault.

Next: The singles and tour

Ths Singles.

Uptown /Crazy You Released September 10th, as the lead off single, Uptown was the most accessible track on the album, strange to see why this single tanked on the Pop Chart. It was a #5 Soul Smash, meaning that Black audiences were still very much following him. Using a weaker track off For You probably did not help its cause. Uptown is one of his strongest songs to date, whereas Crazy You was one of his weakest. Kind of like pairing Gold with Jughead. Dave Hill (1989) quotes the song reached #101 on the Pop Chart.

Dirty Mind/When we're dancing close and slow Released November 26, to coincide with the start of the Tour, this single tanked completely, reaching only 65 on the Soul Chart (Meaningless), a shame as Dirty Mind was one of the better tracks on the album, but maybe the raunchy lyrics coupled with the lesser track from Prince, was also a reason it tanked.

These two singles were released in the USA only. The following singles were released in the UK and Europe, mainly to create advanced hype on those markets for Prince's first tour there.

Do it All Night/Head Released March 1981, I don't what statement Prince was trying to make here by shipping two of the most x rated songs off Dirty Mind into a double A side (Its possible he knew that European audiences were more liberal in their attitudes to sex). Needless to say, it tanked completely, there were no Black charts in Europe, and the single did little to further his cause. On the plus side, the single seems like a great choice now, and actual copies of it are scarce and collectible. And at least he did not release "Sister" as a single.

Gotta stop messin about/ Uptown Released in June 1981 to capitalise on his appearances in Paris, Amsterdam and London, this well planned single tanked, and why we don't know. He had a tour, and took an outtake from Dirty Mind, coupled it with his biggest hit (That actually reached #45 in Britain and even higher in the Commonwealth, it got to #3 in New Zealand), and yet it still flopped, any serious fan would have to buy it, if they wanted Gotta Stop (Otherwise wait for a bootleg or until late 1993). The single was re released in July with Uptown as the Bside, again it flopped.

Part of the reason these singles may have flopped, was that when Dirty Mind was sent to radio stations, caution stickers were applied to the albums and it was obvious very few DJ's would play the x rated tracks on the air, even the more accessible tracks Uptown, When You were mine and Partyup were limited. Partyup mainly as it disagreed with the Reaganistic policies of the time. Also Prince was still relatively unknown, and the true impact of Dirty Mind really took place after the tour and into mid 1981 rather than late 1980.

The European singles tanked as there was not much publicity at the time, and Prince played only 3 dates in smoky nightclubs that could not seat more than 300 or so people, hardly the recipe to mega exposure. Also his reticient attitude towards interviews and promotions cost him. According to Per Nilsen (1993), he told a Journalist in Paris he had no childhood.

[Edited 8/7/10 17:28pm]